RELATED LINKS

The predicted
effects of Hurricane Sandy, the prodigious storm plodding up the East Coast,
never materialized in Chapel Hill. Spectators who prepared to withstand wind
and rain in order to watch North Carolina and N.C. State compete at Kenan
Stadium stayed comfortably dry.

So did the playing field, which
accommodated 1104 yards of total offense, 169 plays, and 78 points over nearly
four hours of action.

In the end it was not the storm
but a burst of brilliance, a lightning strike of excellence, that defined the
gray afternoon, elevating the Tar Heels to a giddy 43-35 victory that left
players and coaches wet after all, eyes overflowing with tears of joy.

"I started crying on the way to the end zone,"
admitted Gio Bernard, whose punt return for a touchdown clinched the key
rivalry win in this bowl-less season, not to mention a permanent place in Tar
Heel lore.

The Wolfpack
had nurtured a lead for more than half the game, only to watch UNC score twice
in the fourth quarter, forging a tie at 35-all on a field goal by Casey Barth
with 1:24 remaining. The Pack, led by quarterback Mike Glennon, who threw for
five touchdowns, had only to run out the clock to force overtime and regroup.

Didn't happen.
On fourth and 10, after the Tar Heels spent their final timeout to stop the
clock, N.C. State's Wil Baumann launched the 18th punt of the
afternoon. Only four previous punts by both teams had been returned for a
cumulative nine yards. There was still time left for UNC to move into position
for a field goal attempt, but not much.

Then, as N.C.
State coach Tom O'Brien observed, a modest breath of wind intervened, creating
the opening a player like Bernard lives to exploit.

"I think we
might have over-kicked it," said O'Brien, previously successful in all five
meetings with the Tar Heels as head coach at N.C. State. "What you want to do
is just kick it high in the air and make him fair-catch it, which we'd been
doing. We have the wind behind us and the wind took it, but still you have to
cover and make a tackle."

Coaches are
fond of proclaiming that close games are not determined by one series, one
player, one play. But as certain vice presidents might say during a debate, on
this occasion such a dimishment of individual exceptionalism could be dismissed
as "malarkey."

The man
awaiting N.C. State's punt was Bernard, the redshirt sophomore whom UNC quarterback
Bryn Renner called "probably the best player I've ever played with." Renner, a
junior, also acquitted himself well against the Wolfpack, completing 30 of 47
passes for 358 yards and a touchdown.

Bernard had
not been slated to handle the punt. Seeing the Heels set up "my favorite punt
return," and encouraged by Renner, he waved off a teammate and retook the
field. This was probably the last chance to determine the outcome in
regulation, and Bernard characteristically seized it.

As Larry Fedora has learned to
his pleasure, such circumstances are when Bernard excels. "He's a guy that when
a play needs to be made, he wants to be out there," said Fedora, now 6-3, 3-2
in the ACC in his initial season as UNC's head coach. "He wants the ball in his
hands."

The 5-10 tailback played with an injured
ankle, rolled early in the third quarter along the N.C. State sideline. To that
point Bernard had largely been contained by an N.C. State defense that,
staggered early, held UNC scoreless for 36 minutes at mid-game.

Through three periods the
darting, elusive back had two rushing touchdowns but only 50 yards on 16
carries, less than half his usual average per attempt. Bernard's impact was
greater as a receiver. He had 76 yards on seven catches, Renner's passes exploiting
advantageous open-field situations.

Come the
fourth quarter others wore down; Bernard stepped up even as his ankle continued
to ache. Over the final 15 minutes he rushed seven times for 89 yards and added
a 19-yard reception.

On the Heels' final drive Bernard
ripped off runs of 17 and 38 yards on consecutive carries to set up Barth's
tying field goal. That increased his season's rushing total to 930 yards in
seven games, best in the ACC. His per-game average of 132.9 also continues to
pace the conference.

Perhaps the league's most
electrifying player, Bernard made the most of his second punt return of the
day. He fielded the ball at UNC's 26, cut right to follow a wall of blockers,
then outran the defense along the Wolfpack sideline, veering through the end
zone into the embrace of delirious students.

Guard Jonathan Cooper, all 295
pounds of him, said he and Bernard's teammates ran parallel along their own
sideline in sympathetic harmony. "I wanted to tackle him myself, I was so
excited," said the senior.

"He's pretty special," Fedora
said of Bernard. "He believes it all the time and his teammates believe in him,
every one of them do. They expect plays like that from him. Just when people
believe, and they really expect good things to happen, a lot of times good
things happen."

Carolina now stands tied for the
lead in the Coastal Division; only one of its three remaining ACC opponents has
as much as a .500 record. "This game was our Super Bowl game," said Bernard,
who clinched a piece of immortality on the way to first place.